2015 B.C. fire season one of the worst in past decade

The B.C. Wildfire Service says 2015 was a bad year for wildfires, with nearly three times as many hectares burned as the 10-year average.

"Certainly fire activity this year was more intense," said fire information officer Ryan Turcot.

"We did see abnormally high amounts of lightning activity, we saw really dry conditions in a lot of areas."

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Turcot said the early start of spring and the hot, dry weather in B.C. created ideal conditions for wildfires.

In total, more than 300,000 hectares of forest burned. Turcot said many of the largest fires were in northern B.C. and didn't threaten communities.

So far this year, the province has spent $287 million fighting fires — that's twice the 10-year average.

Many fires this summer were human caused, including the wildfire near Rock Creek that burned more than 30 homes.

"It's fair to say this was one of the worst in the past 10 years in terms of human impact," said Turcott.

In total more than 50 structures burned down — the highest number since since 2003.